I almost made it through the first round of my holiday cooking extravaganza without consuming sugar, but by hour 3 my defenses were weakened and I succumbed. My argument was that I couldn’t possibly gift these delicious things to people without knowing if I was accidentally poisoning them. I’m not, for the record. And it really was just a taste- a small nibble of my peanut butter mixture, a bit of melted chocolate to check the sweetness level. I wasn’t out of control, though there was a moment or two when I had to put the spoon down. And remind myself not to lick it…and there were a lot of spoons. And chocolate all over my hands. Tonight I made two paleo-ified treats (peppermint patties & “craveman crunch bars“- both items use honey as the sweetener) and one that was very clearly not- peanut butter cups! with brown sugar & confectioner’s sugar ):

I’ve reached a conclusion about my eating patterns: lunch matters more to me than breakfast, when it comes to daylong satiety and limiting night-time eating. When I have a big and satisfying lunch, I am less inclined to snack a lot at night. I love a big satisfying breakfast, but it doesn’t prevent me from eating my face off 12 hours later.

Also, to those of you considering the detox or already doing it, I definitely recommend this week’s episode of the Balanced Bites podcast, which features questions about the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I know Diane mentions it from time to time, but this week all the questions relate to the detox and it definitely answered some of my curiosities (for example, why summer squash is okay but not winter squash: really it’s obvious, the winter squashes are starchier and the detox limits starch intake, and for any meats that might be cured with sugar, as long as it’s less than 1-2 grams per serving, it’s fine because the actual sugar has most likely cooked off. I will eat beef jerky next round!!)